Twins base runner Pedro Florimon is tagged out at the plate by Blue Jays catcher J.P. Arencibia during the sixth inning on September 8, 2013 at Target Field in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Florimon tried to score on an infield grounder by Chris Herrmann. (Photo by Andy Clayton-King/Getty Images)

A smattering of boos rained down on the Twins’ third-base coach after he held Pedro Florimon in the sixth inning of Sunday’s 2-0 loss to the Toronto Blue Jays. Falling for the 10th straight time at Target Field, the Twins broke the previous franchise record for consecutive home losses.

Scoreless at the time, the game seemingly turned when Vavra admittedly “lost sight of the ball” after Alex Presley’s grounder with nobody out slipped under the glove of diving shortstop Jose Reyes.

“(Vavra) didn’t know if he’d knocked it down, and it was laying right there,” Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said. “He couldn’t find the ball. He held his hands up. Obviously, that turned into a big play.”

The boos became louder after the Twins’ second, third and fourth hitters failed to bring home the game’s first run.

Chris Herrmann grounded sharply to second base in what became a fielder’s choice at home. Brian Dozier followed with a fly ball to center, and Oswaldo Arcia — serving as the cleanup hitter for the first time in the majors — grounded out to shortstop.

Those three batters saw just four pitches in making those three outs, leaving Vavra to trot back to the dugout with a sick feeling in the pit of his stomach.

“He’s pretty upset,” Gardenhire said. “He was bummed out about it in the dugout.”

Kevin Pillar got to the ball fairly quickly in short left field, but everyone seemed to agree the speedy Florimon would have scored with ease.

So a fair portion of the crowd of 29,450 booed Vavra, which isn’t exactly fair, considering he hasn’t gone hitless with runners in scoring position a single time this season.

“If you’ve never been out there, you would never understand that,” Gardenhire said. “When you’re coaching, it’s a fast pace over there. It’s a very tough job.”

No matter what fans in the seats might think.

“It may look like everybody can see the ball,” Gardenhire said, “but when the guy dives, Joe lost sight of it. He knew it after. He should have sent him. Didn’t work out.”

Not much has worked in the Twins’ favor lately, at least at home, where they last won Aug. 15 against the last-place Chicago White Sox. The 2011 Twins dropped nine straight at home in April and May, and the 1961-62 edition dropped that many across two seasons.

However, this year’s edition has carved out its own niche in the record book. Again.

It takes a certain level of creativity to lose 10 straight home games. Sunday, the Twins saw setup man Jared Burton fall to 2-9 while wasting seven shutout innings by Canadian left-hander Drew Albers, who bounced back from a miserable outing in Houston.

When the starting rotation with baseball’s worst earned-run average turns in an outing like that, a streak-stopping victory is supposed to follow.

Instead, thanks to a combined five-hitter by Toronto right-hander Esmil Rogers and three relievers, Vavra’s mistake rated its own postgame spotlight.

“From our angle, and the fans angle, I’m sure it’s always, ‘Yeah, why didn’t you send him?’ ” Dozier said. “Joe’s been doing a heck of a job over there. Whatever his instincts were, I’ll back him on that. That one certain play, whether I think he could have made it or not, whatever Joe thinks, I’ll go with it.”

Vavra felt he should have sent the runner, Dozier was told.

“You’ve got nobody out and it’s first and third, and you’re expecting to score that run,” Albers said. “You’ve got to take into account the situation, as well. You probably score that run 90 to 95 percent of the time, whereas there’s a chance (Florimon) gets thrown out at the plate.”

Those percentages are probably a little high for a clutch-hitting unit that entered the day tied for 27th in the majors with a .230 batting average and 29th in on-base percentage (.310) with runners in scoring position.

“It looked like they may have given (the run) to us, I don’t know,” Albers said. “Pillar’s got a pretty good arm in left, too. You factor all those things in, and it’s a split- second decision. Unfortunately, that one didn’t work out for us.”

Not much has lately for the Twins, who must face Los Angeles Angels ace Jered Weaver in Monday’s makeup game.

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